Can Van Ginkel (the Dutch Justin Bieber) solve Chelsea's midfield problem? All you need to know about the £9m man

Marco van Ginkel is not the first. Chelsea have tried many times without identifying the natural successors to the mighty midfield triumvirate of Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Claude Makelele.

Why would they? These are three of the finest midfielders of their generation and like-for-like replacements are scarce. Or expensive.

Instead Chelsea have been gambled, working the market in different areas. There have been the young prospects like Scott Parker and Nemanja Matic, who were both allowed to leave before flourishing elsewhere.

Dutch of class: Van Ginkel (right) is tipped to make his mark in the Holland team

Others fell far short of the desired
quality, such as Maniche and Mineiro or Steve Sidwell, Jiri Jarosik and
Alexei Smertin or the partial successes like Raul Meireles.

Michael Essien was ravaged by injury
at his peak and John Obi Mikel has spent seven satisfactory years
without fulfilling the enormous hype which accompanied his complicated
transfer.

Oriol Romeu flickered and faded and
damaged his knee ligaments and Ramires, an irrepressible source of
energy occasionally appears to have the worst first-touch in Brazil.

Hard work: The likes of Oriol Romeu have not proven wholly successful at the Bridge

Step forward Van Ginkel, the
20-year-old signed from Vitesse Arnhem having been voted the best young
player in Holland last season.

At a glance, he has what it takes to
fit into the type of football Jose Mourinho like to play. He is tall and
strong, yet mobile with typical Dutch technique, poise on the ball and
awareness of movement around him.

He is comfortable in a 4-3-3 system,
displays good energy, can win the ball, slide a pass and he clearly has a
goal knack with eight from midfield in Erevidisie last season as
Vitesse finished fourth.

Most of them were scored breaking into
space from midfield or with a firm strike from around the fringes of
the penalty area with a touch of Lampard.

It is a big step to come straight from
the Dutch league to the top of the Barclays Premier League at the age
of 20 but those in Holland believe he has what it takes to survive in
Mourinho’s squad this season, rather than continue to develop on loan
like some recent signings from Belgium, including Kevin de Bryune and
Romelu Lukaku.

'Eventually I think he will reach that
level,' said Vitesse midfielder Theo Janssen, when asked recently about
Van Ginkel’s possible move to Chelsea.

As ever, the question is how quickly and will his development stall if he cannot command the playing time.

If it goes to plan, he can learn from
the experience of Lampard about how to fashion those attacking instincts
into match-winning contributions in the Premier League environment,
with a view to ultimately taking his place in the team.

He was often deployed on the right of
Vitesse’s midfield trio with the versatility to possibly evolve into a
midfielder who can shoulder more defensive responsibilities, like
Ballack. He has the physique and decent aerial strength, although this
would probably be considered a waste of his energy and attacking drive
at such a young age.

Big shoes to fill: Van Ginkel can develop into a midfielder with defensive responsibilities, like Ballack

Mourinho made the young Lampard into
the player he is by instilling belief in a young mind and schooling him
in the art of match-winning. Like Van Ginkel, Lampard’s qualities always
suited the ruthless and direct style Mourinho preferred to play.

Van Ginkel does not appear to lack
confidence – Dutch footballers rarely do – but he was wary of moving too
soon and failing to break into the Chelsea team. A chat with Mourinho
seems to have eased his concerns.

The youngster is firmly in the fast
lane. He made his senior debut at 17 and his international debut at 19
as a late substitute against Germany in November, developing quickly
last season under the eye of manager Fred Rutten before he quit.

VIDEO: A brilliant Van Ginkel goal from last season

Plenty of top clubs have scouted him
over the last 12 months but Chelsea had the advantage of their special
relationship with Vitesse Arnhem, born out of the friendship between
Roman Abramovich and Merab Jordania.

Abramovich’s friend and advisor Piet
de Visser has close connections at the two clubs and revealed that
Chelsea even had a say in who would be the new Vitesse manager before
Peter Bosz was appointed last month.

The Blues have sent young players like
Matic, Tomas Kalas, Patrick van Aanholt and Gael Kakuta on loan to
Vitesse and have been rewarded by signing their starlet for a fee
thought to be £9m.

Partnership: Van Ginkel is the latest player to move between Chelsea and Vitesse Arnhem

P.S.

If Van Ginkel looks familiar, it might be because you think he looks a bit like pop-star Justin Bieber.

Chelsea's new man has admitted the comparison is fair, saying: 'I seem to look a bit like him.'

If he proves even half as popular as the platinum-certified teen idol, the Blues will be happy.